On Friday, June 9, 2023, well drilling is due to start at a site identified in Cabbage Tree, Cayon, adjacent to the island’s main road and next to the petrol station.
Once completed, the project is anticipated to provide significant assistance to the Cayon village, which has long struggled with water issues.
Bedrock Exploration Development Technologies (BEAD) St. Kitts Ltd., a company hired by the government of St. Kitts and Nevis through the Water Services Department (WSD), which is led by Mr. Cromwell Williams, Manager and Hydrogeologist, is in charge of managing and carrying out the project.
To make the construction, which should be finished in a few weeks, more manageable, traffic will need to be rerouted along the island’s main road near the Cabbage Tree neighborhood.
According to Mr. Williams in an exclusive interview with St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS), the WSD was content for the time being.
“I want to say that this is a moment that we are very happy for at the Water Services Department and by extension the entire government and the entire island because when this well is successful—we expect that we will get a good well here—it will bring tremendous relief for the water shortage that we have been experiencing, particularly in the Cayon area, and so while well drilling is not a one hundred percent surety, we have engaged BEAD, because BEAD has demonstrated that it has access to more modern technology which they have used in identifying this site and so we are pretty confident that we will get a well, and so we look forward to that in the coming weeks when we can breathe a sigh of relief because, hopefully, we would have found a successful well in this area,” said the Manager of the WSD, Mr. Cromwell Williams.
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“BEAD has now mobilized their equipment on site,” he continued. The drilling rig is present, and tomorrow they will bring in one or two additional pieces of equipment.
They are prepared to begin, but before they can, we must, regrettably, close the island’s main road and direct traffic elsewhere for safety considerations due to how close the drilling is to the road.
According to Mr. Williams, he is optimistic that the project will be a success and that the well will produce up to 500 000 gallons per day, which will not only service the Cayon area but also nearby communities as far away as Keys and Canada in one direction and as far away as Molineux and the Phillips area in the other.
He urged all residents and people to practice water conservation, which is especially important now that the dry season has arrived.
“We have only received 60% of the annual rainfall that we would normally get, which has major ramifications for how we use water, so we are requesting that everyone practice water conservation. Everyone ought to use less water, he emphasized.
If water is discovered, he said, its potability must be assessed and, if necessary, treated.
“Water exists below the surface, but its presence does not benefit us; therefore, we must drill wells to access it, and well drilling is not a cheap procedure.
The government needs to start informing the public that producing water is not a cheap operation because the entire process is not.
I constantly stress that paying $20 for water is not sustainable if we want to have a consistent supply because building water infrastructure costs money, Mr. Williams added.
